Graveyard, Old Wardlaw Parish Church, Kirkhill

Graveyard, Old Wardlaw Parish Church, Kirkhill

This is a Grade A listed building comprising the surviving rectangular burial aisle of the former Wardlaw Parish Church, dating to 1634, with a belfry added in 1722. Only the burial aisle remains; the main church body to the west is now defined by footings and re-sited door jambs leading to burial enclosures.

The 1634 burial aisle is constructed of harled rubble with ashlar dressings. Its three-bay south elevation features a square-headed door with moulded jambs and two long round-headed windows with similarly moulded jambs and panelled wooden shutters fitted with long blacksmith hinges that extend across the shutters as locking bars.

A forestair at the east gable leads to a mural wheel stair serving the 1722 bellcote tower. The tower base is square with square-headed windows in three faces (all except the west) and small decorative stumpy bartizans at each angle. These bartizans are corbelled out with decorative moulding and feature ashlar conical caps topped with diminutive ball finials. The circular belfry stage above has four square-headed windows set immediately below an eaves cornice, offset from the window below. The conical roof carries four diminutive dated lucarnes and is crowned with a double ball finial and copper weathercock. Strapwork buckle margins run at the south-east and north-east angles, with moulded eaves cornices to north and south, flat skews terminating in swept skewputts, and a slate roof.

The interior contains a shallow raised dais at the east end with a carved ashlar balustrade incorporating the Lovat coat of arms. A Corinthian columned and pedimented mural memorial plaque stands above, with further plaques in moulded surrounds on either side. Plaques in the north and south walls record burial vaults of the Frasers of Reelig and Belladrum. A shallow mural recess in the north wall houses two early carved fragments. A trapdoor entrance immediately in front of the balustrade provides access to the Lovat (Fraser of Beaufort) burial vault, from which steps descend to a vault containing various 18th and early 19th century lead coffins. The stone-tiled floor is in poor condition.

The burial ground is enclosed by a roughly coped rubble wall, heightened in part at the south, with a round-headed entrance under a corniced blocking course and moulded jambs. A spearhead cast-iron pedestrian gate provides access.

Historical context: Kirkhill represents the site of the former Wardlaw Parish Church, serving the united parishes of Wardlaw and Farnua. The Lovat burial aisle served the Lovats of Beaufort until 1826, when the Roman Catholic Church of St Mary's Eskadale was built and they established a burial ground there instead. A pedimented mural memorial to Thomas Lord Fraser of Lovat was erected by his son Simon. Three Fraser ministers of Kirkhill are buried close together: Reverend Alexander Fraser (1749–1802), Reverend Donald (1783–1836), and Reverend Alexander (died 1883, "cared out" at the Disruption), representing three generations of grandfather, father, and son.